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With the crazy/bad-hair-centric American Hustle about to hit theaters, here are some movie hairstyles so scene-stealing, they should have won their very own Academy Awards.
By Evan Saathoff -
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
When it comes to distracting hair in American Hustle, it's a real toss-up between Bradley Cooper's afro and Christian Bale's comb-over, the latter of which even gets its own scene. Cooper wins, but just barely, 'cause this is the Hangover dude in little white curlers.
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Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
More than his strangely logical psychology, his ruthlessness, or his unconventional weaponry, we identify Anton Chigurh by his weird pageboy. It's a strange choice, to be sure. To his credit, it somehow makes him more terrifying than he'd be with a simple buzz cut.
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Javier Bardem - The Counselor
Yes, Javier Bardem has somehow become the poster boy for goofy movie 'dos. We could devote an entire gallery to him like we did Tom Hanks a few years ago, but his look in The Counselor deserves special mention. He looks like he just got electrocuted, or visited producer Brian Grazer's stylist.
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Sigourney Weaver - Alien 3
Before we had Miley, Britney and Demi, it was seen as a big deal for Hollywood ladies to shave their heads. This was especially true in 1992 when Alien 3's penal colony plot line forced Sigourney Weaver to go bald (well, with a little stubble). She actually looks great without hair, while also lending gravitas to the severity of Ripley's increasingly hopeless situation.
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Samuel L. Jackson - Unbreakable
Samuel L. Jackson may be the king of crazy hair on-screen. His Quentin Tarantino performances alone would net a few good entries. But his most distracting look has to be the weird, asymmetrical afro he wore in Unbreakable, which should have given away the film's twist ending as soon as we saw the guy.
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Cameron Diaz - Being John Malkovich
People love when beautiful actresses ugly it up for a role. And Cameron Diaz gave it her all in Being John Malkovich with this huge, frizzed-out, uncomb-able rats' nest. Enh, we still love her.
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Jean Claude Van Damme - Hard Target
If you're going to give a action movie hero a mullet, you better really go for it. And Hard Target goes for it. Jean Claude Van Damme's hair in this movie might be all business in front and party in back, but it's a greasy feast no matter where you look—which is, not away from the screen.
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Tommy Lee Jones - JFK
Absolutely everyone is in Oliver Stone's JFK. Even actors who weren't born yet show up for cameos. That in itself provides distraction. But the biggest distraction of all is when Tommy Lee Jones shows up with that cotton Q-Tip on his head. You can watch it over and over and not hear a single word his character says. (Hat tip to: Lincoln)
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Sean Penn - Carlito's Way
Sean Penn is one of those manly men, full of grit and swag. So it was a shock to see him rocking a silly perm in Carlito's Way, which seemed less about heated gangster battles and more about that perm's heated battle with an aggressive case of male pattern baldness.
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Nicolas Cage - Con Air
That's actually a lion's mane draped over Cage's head. This modern He-Man look is so secure and iconic that Cage hardly needs to act in the film. His hair and dirty undershirt do most of the heavy lifting for him. And in this particular case, we are better off.
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